JAQUET-DROZ and followers

1785 The Jumping Bird of Jaquet-Droz2014 SOLD for CHF 290K including premium

Pierre Jaquet-Droz, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, is the author of three of the most fabulous automata : musician girl, writer and draughtsman. He also invented the singing bird with a sound mechanism that mimicked the whistle.

Jaquet-Droz teamed from 1769 with two talented mechanics : his son Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. The 1780s were the top period of their business which had its main workshop in Geneva and a branch in London and subcontracted some realizations to Henri Maillardet.

A clock with bird cage comes in the sale of November 8 and 9 by Antiquorum in Geneva, lot 578 estimated in excess of CHF 200K. It is not signed but its attribution to Jaquet-Droz et Leschot is almost certain. The details of the design enable to establish some chronology of the automata, and this piece is dated around 1785.

The bird in painted metal is moving beak, tail and wings and rotating. It jumps from one perch to another through a lever whose speed exceeds the persistence of vision. The movement of a painted waterfall is another refinement of this trademark. The animation is released every three hours and can also be triggered manually.

On June 26, 2011, Rouillac sold for € 150K including premium a piece with two birds for which the clock under the cage is visible only when the system is hanging.

I invite you to play the video shared by the auction house on YouTube :

1786 Automaton and Serinette2015 SOLD for $ 2.53M including premium

Pierre Jaquet-Droz engineered automata in a very high complexity that could include hundreds of mechanical components.

His workshop started in the 1770s the theme of the bird cage that will deserve a great success. The song of the bird is obtained by a miniature mechanical organ named serinette with a unique note per pipe. Six pipes are enough to provide the illusion of a high variety.

In the middle of the next decade, Pierre Jaquet-Droz is associated with his son Henri-Louis and with Jean-Frédéric Leschot and engages the best mechanicians of Geneva including Henri Maillardet and Jacob Frisard. The trend to miniaturization increases and Frisard invents around 1784 the box that throws out the songbird at opening and folds it back at closing.

Success invites for the diversification of models and the integration of these mechanisms in enamelled goldware of highest luxury. The Chinese imperial court is interested in these innovations. From London, the clever entrepreneur James Cox maintains trade relations with the Far East.

On June 11 in New York, Sotheby's sells a sumptuous automaton with an articulated singing bird made by Jaquet-Droz, Leschot and Frisard circa 1786 and sold to Cox in 1787, certainly for the Chinese market.

This piece 16 cm high has the shape of a scent flask with its stopper and also incorporates a watch, as it was often the case in this range of products. The size of the bird, 12 mm high, demonstrates the extreme miniaturization achieved by Jaquet-Droz at the time of Frisard.

This automaton is estimated $ 800K, lot 104. It is the first of three Swiss mechanical wonders operated by Sotheby's in the video below:

1800 The Theatre of Time2013 SOLD 4.1 MHK$ including premium

The Swiss industry developed the automata in the second half of the eighteenth century. Musical automata integrated into Swiss watches are however a direct offshoot of the Chinese taste. The pieces with highest refinement and best humor were mostly made for immediate export to China.

On November 27 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells a pocket watch titled Le Théâtre in gold and enamel with a circle of pearls. It is estimated HK $ 3.7 M.

This large watch of 62 mm provides the time on front side. On the back, a mountain landscape is centered by a pagoda to be animated with a winding, two pairs of enameled characters then dancing a waltz in the presence of two musicians.

This model is extremely rare but was previously described. The catalog indicates that a unit without beads was sold, also by Christie's, for CHF 390K including premium in 1996.

The Theatre was made circa 1800 by a workshop in Neuchâtel named Du Bois et fils, specialists in automata. This tiny company had been founded in 1738, the same year when Pierre Jaquet-Droz, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1721, began his activity.

POST SALE COMMENTThe result, HK$ 4.1M including premium, is in line with the estimate.I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's to introduce the sale:

1805 Amphora Automaton watch attributed to Piguet et Capt2002 SOLD for CHF 4M (worth at that time US $ 2.4M) including premium by Antiquorum

1805-1810 Swiss Automata for the Chinese Market2010 SOLD 746 KCHF including premium

Qianlong, the emperor of China who encouraged all forms of art, was a big fan of clocks and automata. His reign lived the development of the workshops in Guangzhou (Canton), in connection with England.

A few years later, Switzerland got in turn the benefit of this export market. Its skilled craftsmen offered the progress of miniaturization, which was so well suited to the Chinese refined mood. The workshops produced gold watches and automata in flat packages decorated with enamel.

An example of automaton attributed to Piguet & Capt and dated between 1805 and 1810 is for sale by Sotheby's in Geneva on May 9. It is shield shaped 55 x 38 x 11 mm, its edge being marked by a row of large pearls.

The front shows a pastoral scene made in three colored gold on a background of finely enameled lake landscape. The shepherdess and her animals are playing different movements of the arms and head beside a water mill whose wheel turns, for a total of seven motions. The back is illustrated by the fixed enamel portrait of two children.

This piece which belonged to King Farouk is estimated KCHF 400.

POST SALE COMMENTThe price, 746 KCHF including premium, is much higher than the estimate, and also higher than I had imagined. Note that this piece was particularly precious.

1808 A Jewelled Domino Box2017 SOLD for CHF 415K including premium

This 18 karat gold box is decorated with enamels and pearls including the four seasons displayed by facetious cupids. It is accompanied by its original complete set of 28 dominos also in 18K gold with the face in royal blue enamel, the dots in fine pearls and the back in scarlet enamel.

The case is signed MB et C. Born in Geneva, Jean-François Bautte enjoyed an exceptional career in the luxury craft. He had begun as an apprentice trained as a case fitter, goldsmith, watchmaker, jeweller and guilloché maker. After creating his first models he joined forces with two businessmen, Moulinié in 1793 and Moynier in 1804.

Their business was named Moulinié, Bautte et Compagnie abbreviated as MB et C in 1804, becoming Moulinié, Bautte et Moynier in 1808. This development of the brand allows the dating of the domino box in this short intermediate period and is consistent with an inscription dated 1808 on the musical mechanism.

The exceptional provenance of this unique box is marked by two old auctions.

In 1834 it is offered in the deceased estate sale of Thomas Weeks who had held in London an important museum of curiosities. It is probable that the box had not met a customer in the Chinese import market in recession since the death of the Qianlong emperor and had joined in London the collections of pieces manufactured by Cox and Maillardet.

The name of its winning bidder at the Weeks sale is Russell. The correlation with the future Duchess of Bedford, who will soon be a confidante of Queen Victoria, is seductive.

The box returns to auction at Christie's in 1974, sold by a direct descendant of Queen Victoria. The domino plays of the young queen with prince consort Albert are documented in her own diaries. It seems highly probable that the Geneva box had belonged to Her Majesty.

1810 Surprises in a Fan2012 SOLD 390 KCHF including premium

PRE SALE DISCUSSION

The eighteenth century saw the development of luxury furnishings. At the end of that century, small objects in gold and enamels meet the needs of refinement of the aristocracy. This period also marked the progress of mechanical miniaturization, and manufacturers of automata competed in skills.

A luxurious fan made circa 1810 is by itself a kind of synthesis of the exquisite curiosity reached by objects from theperiod.

The box, 19,5 x 2,5 cm, is composed of two similar sticks with gold, enamel and half-pearls. It opens to unfold the sheet of vellum decorated in a lovely watercolor scene of two women and a little girl with flowers. The lower part of the sticks conceals in one side a watch with two small dials, on the other side a miniature musical mechanism.

This extremely rare assembly was done by a master watchmaker, most probably by Piguet and Capt in Geneva, just anticipating the most famous partnership between Piguet and Meylan. It is also an exceptional example of a piece which was not made ​​for the Chinese market but for the European aristocracy.

This precious fan is estimated CHF 300K, for sale by Antiquorum in Geneva onNovember 11. It is illustrated in the article shared by National Jeweler.

The prestigious Farouk collection included an example of almost identical design and size, using the same materials but with a different decoration.

POST SALE COMMENT​Very good price in line with the estimate for this luxury item from another time: CHF 320K before fees, 390K including premium.

1811 The Menagerie of Maillardet2010 SOLD 405 KCHF including premium

PRE SALE DISCUSSION

Jaquet-Droz was the engineer of the magic and the magician of the mechanics. Without hope that a major work of this genius appears in the market, it is always exciting to discuss the accomplishments of his colleagues and followers. We recently met in this group the singing birds of Rochat brothers. Now let us introduce the menagerie of Maillardet.

Former collaborator of Jaquet-Droz, Henri Maillardet had settled in London. In 1805, he produced automata writers.In 1811, he organized an exhibition of his menagerie of automata, which included caterpillars, lizards, mice, and probably many other animated creatures.

The caterpillar consists of eleven contiguous rings. The head looks up and begins an undulating movement of the body. This model is particularly suitable to be set with precious stones.

On November 14 in Geneva, Sotheby's sells a caterpillar of the model attributed to Maillardet, in red enamel decorated with pearls, rubies, turquoises, emeralds and diamonds, in its original leather presentation box 7 cm long.This small ambulant jewelry is estimated CHF 350K.

Back to our mechanician. The press release and Wikipedia tell a wonderful story: in 1928, an automaton writer of unknown origin was presented to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Once repaired and restarted, the robot wrote these words: "écrit par l'automate de Maillardet".

POST SALE COMMENTDespite the exceptional rarity of the piece, the estimate was well targeted. Result: CHF 405K including premium.Later discussion with video shared on Vimeo : Daily Mail December 27, 2012 :

1820 The Singing Birds of Geneva2011 SOLD 45.5 MHK$ including premium

Geneva got an important place in art history for its jewelry and its precision mechanical crafts. The pair of singing birds created circa 1820, attributed to Frères Rochat, for sale by Christie's in Hong Kong on May 30, is exceptional.

These automata are pistol shaped and their barrels house the hundreds of mechanical components. The decor is exquisite and the materials are precious: gold, enamel, agate, pearl, diamond. They are shown on the release shared by Artdaily.

When the trigger is pulled, the colorful bird leaves at the end of the barrel, turns, opens and closes its wings and beak, sings. After such a work, it returns home.

They are in exceptional condition, as demonstrated by a video on the website of Christie's. Singing bird pistol automaton are very rare, and these are the only remaining specimens that have been kept as a pair. The auction house admits that it is difficult to predict the price of such an absolutely unique lot, and advances a very open estimate range: HK $ 20 to 40M.

POST SALE COMMENT

The prices of lots that are unique of their kind have no limit. Excellent result for this one: HK $ 45.5 million including premium.

​1820 Questions for a Magician2016 SOLD for $ 1.2M including premium

The Swiss automatons amaze us with their mechanical ingenuity. Some charm us with their puzzles. The case of a writer realized around 1800 is famous : once repaired in 1928, this previously anonymous instrument records on its own page: "Ecrit par l'automate de Maillardet".

The magician answers to riddles or performs transformations or escapes. In the former type, the user inserts a tablet in a slot. This action starts the animation and the music which will end after the answer appears on the other side of the picture. These magician boxes are a specialty and maybe even an exclusivity of the brand of Piguet et Meylan.

On June 8 in New York, Sotheby's sells a gold and enamel snuff box concealing an automaton with a magician and a musician. This piece that had belonged to the collection of King Farouk is estimated $ 1.5M, lot 81.

As always, its make had required some specialized craftsmen. The study of punches allows to date it around 1820. The gold work is signed by Chénevard et Jouvet.

This box in perfect condition keeps for its questions five double-sided tablets that are differentiated by the position of an off-centered hole. A tablet is asking "Qui t'a créé ?" When the wand of the magician ceases to oscillate, the automaton responds in a window previously hidden in a tree : "CH Oudin".

The magician box does not however offer the same mystery as the writer of Maillardet : its gild brass movement is inscribed "Chas. Oudin, 52 Palais Royal, Paris" on a backplate.

Charles Oudin was one of the best assistants to Breguet for whom he worked on the mechanism of the equation of time and on the tactile watch before establishing his own business. Its participation in the mechanics of an automaton demonstrates an unexpected encounter between the followers of the two most brilliant mechanical engineers of all time, Jaquet-Droz and Breguet. The magician does not provide the answer to this riddle.

The animation of the magician is demonstrated in the video shared by Sotheby's to announce the sale :

1826-1828 Bird and Kite in the Garden2011 SOLD 300 K$ including premium

PRE SALE DISCUSSION

A clock for sale on April 13at Sotheby's in New York is a synthesis of what was the best in Geneva in the early nineteenth century, and its signatures combine two prestigious firms of that time: Rochat, and Piguet & Meylan.

Overall 64 cm high, it is shaped like a Medici vase in gilded bronze which includes the mechanism and bears the whiteenamel dial of 9 cm in diameter. The vase is topped by a terrace which deserves a detailed description.

The centerpiece of the terrace is a fountain with rotating glass rods to simulate waterr, and whose column is surmounted by the singing bird automaton, a specialty of Rochat. A youth and a girl on a seesaw play with a kite,which gives its title to the model ("le cerf-volant"). The garden atmosphere is enhanced by a few potted plants.

The movement starts automatically three minutes before the hour, but can also be triggered manually.

Several components are dated between 1826 and 1828. The clock cannot be later than the latter date, which corresponds to the end of the association between Piguet and Meylan.

I found it unambiguously by its serial number in the archives of Antiquorum who sold it CHF 215K including premium on November 14, 2004 (lot 424). It is now estimated $ 200K.

POST SALE COMMENT​Good result: $ 300K including premium, close to the higher estimate.